


Text Me

by toxicdumpingground



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Kidnapping, Mac doesn't want to get shot, Murdoc is def creepy, Murdoc is possessive, Not James MacGyver Friendly, Rogue One References, hints of burgeoning attraction, saving someone from a kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 16:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toxicdumpingground/pseuds/toxicdumpingground
Summary: Macgyver gets kidnapped and meets Cassian again, and texts the person he knows will come find them both.
Relationships: Cassian & Murdoc (MacGyver TV 2016), Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	Text Me

It’s painful to wake up in a prison cell with handcuffs on, and a sloppy bandage over the bullet graze on his arm, but Macgyver was almost used to it by now. What’s different this time is that the cell is a little nicer than most, and the ten-year-old huddled in the corner looking terrified by the sight of two men with semi-automatic weapons pointed at the both of them. 

“Mr. Macgyver,” the third man, shorter and wearing a teal suit, seemed pleased by his sudden reversion to the waking world. “Welcome back.” 

“Good to be back,” Mac muttered and squinted at the man. “Who are you?” 

“I’m someone who needs your father’s...expertise,” the man told him, “his intelligence and contact, and you’re going to help me get it.” 

“Uh...he’s listed in the Lost Angeles phone book under William Martin Tell.” The blow that came a second later cracked against his cheek, and Mac winced as his ears continued to ring. “I’m serious; that wasn’t a sarcastic response.” 

“Be that as it may,” the man set his hands on his hips, eyeing the bleeding younger man. “You’re going to help me contact him, and he’s going to do what I want.” 

“Why go through me?” Macgyver wondered, and he cut his eyes back to Cassian. “Who’s the kid?” 

“The kid is leverage and hardly your concern.” 

“Leverage?” Cassian’s eyes widened, and he shrank further in on himself. There was a sluggishly bleeding bruise on his right cheek, and Macgyver closed his eyes with a sigh. 

“Another reluctant client, but tell me how to get your father’s attention, Mr. Macgyver. You’ll get him right into my trap.” 

“It won’t work,” Macgyver told him, counting on the man to assume he was referring to his father outsmarting whatever trap they’d set and not that his father  _ wouldn’t _ respond to a plea for help.

“You’re already on thin ice, Mr. Macgyver,” the unidentified man told him, and he sighed. 

“My phone,” he said, trying to clear his head. “My phone, under the contact Dumpster Fire, just text Rogue One.” 

“Are you serious?” A henchman asked, and Macgyver nodded his head. “I will never understand kids and their phones.” 

“You’ll be here until we bring your old man,” the man assured him, “make yourself comfortable.”

“Right,” Macgyver let his head fall to his chest, only partly feigning the utter exaustion plowing him. “Sure.” When the men retreated, it only took a few seconds to pick the handcuffs and toss them aside. “Cassian?” 

“Mr. Macgyver?” Doe-eyed and trembling, the young man scrambled eagerly into Mac’s outstretched hands. “Are you okay? 

“Hey, hey, I’m going to be fine; what wrong? What happened?” 

“I’m not sure,” Cassian said, shaking from the top off his dark hair to his shoes and burrowing as much as possible into Macgyver’s side. “Dad said that you’re the best of the best, that you’ll always help.” 

“Yeah,” Mac closed his eyes, doing his best to keep the ten-year-old from shattering to pieces. The kid was cold and afraid. “Don’t worry; he’ll come for you.” 

“Dad will come?” Cassian’s eyes opened, and he focused on Mac’s face. “They said that...they said that he wouldn’t! They said that he’d...that he’d be...that he wouldn’t come.” 

“Listen, Cassian,” Mac looked around the cell for an escape, cataloging every item and every possible route out. “If I only know two facts, then I know that the sun rises every day and your dad would never abandon you, alright?” 

Cassian was still shaking somewhat, and Mac patted his back and did his best to copy one of Jack’s patented hugs. It seemed to work because the kid slowly stopped shaking, but this clinging grip to Mac’s arms would be a hamper on their escape. He wanted to be able to make a quick exit for when Murdoc showed up, breathing fire and dispatching anyone who got within arms reach. 

There was something sickening about knowing that the world’s best contract killer would be here to rescue his son before even Mac’s own father. There was no doubt in his mind that Murdoc had been looking for Cassian and was probably cleaving his way through whichever pop-up terrorist organization this was. It was doubly sickening that Murdoc’s own creepy obsession with Mac would, if at all possible, would have him on the newest scent faster than a shark on blood. 

“Mr. Macgyver,” Cassian’s soft voice caught his attention, “what about your dad?” 

“What about him?” Mac asked, keeping an eye for the guards. He wanted to escape, but having a ten-year-old who he was supposed to be keeping from these sorts of interactions was going to put a hamper on his escape. 

“Won’t he come for you too?” 

“We’ll see,” Mac told him and wondered just how fast Murdoc would piece the clues from the text. 

“Are we going to escape?” Cassian whispered, and Mac blinked the blood and sweat from his eyes. 

“We’ll figure something out,” he promised, but the last thing he wanted to do was anything that would end up hurting Cassian further. Endangering the kid was not one of the reasons he was going to end up in the hospital, but given Murdoc’s  _ obsession _ with killing him, the man probably didn’t need any more reasons. “Did they hurt you?” 

“They were mean,” Cassian whispered and buried his face against Mac’s chest. “Really mean.” 

“Okay,” Mac rested his chin on his head, taking slow, deep breathes, “okay then. Listen, someone is going to come to get us, I promise.” 

The sun was beginning to set when the first scream echoed through the building, horrified and pained. Mac reached for the broken mattress, yanking out the stuffing he could find, and fashioned ear-plugs for the wide-eyed child in his arms. With that, he buried Cassian’s face in his shoulder to him from catching sight of any of the approaching carnage. 

Approaching carnage, it was too because Murdoc and Jack rounded the corner, back to back with weapons raised and eerily identical expressions promising swift retribution to anyone who got between them and their targets. 

“Clever text, boy wonder,” Murdoc cooed as he began to open the cell door. Jack glared at him but said nothing. 

“Daddy!” Cassian’s head popped up, and his vision of the dead guards was blocked by his father’s body. He tried to scramble free from Macgyver, but he clamped his arms around the kid. Kneeling in a freezing cell, bloody and bruises, holding the child of an assassin in his arms was the last place Macgyver wanted to be right now. Murdoc's eye glittered as he knelt beside Macgyver, a possessive touch on his shoulder that sent ice down his spine. 

“Pumpkin,” Murdoc cooed, reaching out to brush Cassian’s hair away from his eyes and eyeing the bruise on his cheek. “Pumpkin, can you let Macgyver carry you for a little bit? We need to get out of here, and there’s a mess that Daddy doesn’t want you to see.” 

“Mr. Macgyver said you would come,” Cassian said breathlessly like he couldn’t believe it until he’d seen the evidence in front of him. “He said you would come. He  _ said _ you would come.” 

“I’ll always come for you, Pumpkin,” Murdoc muttered, leaning too close for Macgyver’s comfort to press a kiss against his son’s forehead. “But Mac is going to carry you out, and I don’t want you to open your eyes, alright?”

“What’s wrong?” The young voice trembled, and he peered up at Macgyver. 

“Your dad made a bit of a mess,” Murdoc interjected, “and I don’t want you to see that I’m messy too.” 

“You’re going to clean it up, right?” Cassian asked, “you’re supposed to clean up after your messes.” 

“Of course,” Macgyver exchanged a disbelieving glance with Jack at the creepily domestic scene played out in front of them. “I’ll take care of  _ everything _ . Now cover your eyes and let the big, strong, Macgyver carry you out of here, okay?” 

Cassian stared at his father for a minute before obeying, tucking himself into Macgyver’s chest and hanging limply as the blond staggered to his feet. 

“Hey, Jack,” he maneuvered out of the cell. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” a series of glances from Murdoc to Jack and then to Cassian, and the conversation was tabled for another time. Keeping a hand on the back of Cassian’s head, not trusting the kid to take a peek and catch sight of something that would haunt his dreams for years to come, he moved through the warehouse and emerged into a dim light outside with his best friend and his prime nemesis watching his back every step of the way. 

It was probably going to haunt his dreams; it didn’t look like there were any survivors, and Murdoc’s rampage was probably only beginning. 

“Macgyver!” Riley and Desi both looked relieved, and Mac grinned for the first time since he’d been kidnapped. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine,” he said, kneeling and unwinding his arms from around Cassian. The ten-year-old bolted for his father at first chance, trembling all anew. As soon as Cassian was safe, and there was probably no place safer for him, Macgyver fell on his backside and leaned against the SUV as he tried to breathe normally. “Didn’t even get a chance to rough me up.” 

“Then why are you shaking like a leaf?” Jack asked, kneeling beside him and putting a warm hand on his shoulder. Mac closed his eyes, leaning into the touch, and reached up to grab his wrist. 

“Can’t help it. Too many endorphins,” he leaned into the hug that his teammates crowded into. “What happened?” 

“Murdoc got your text and called me, saying that someone has my boy scout and his son and that if we wanted you back, then we’d need to team up. I wasn’t too thrilled, but apparently, someone kidnapped his son a few days ago, and he was looking for  _ you _ to help him find him until he got that text, and then it was double rampage time.” 

“I pity the SOBs who took Cassian,” Macgyver, already figuring that Murdoc couldn’t and wouldn’t be stopped from taking down the rest of them as an example. He looked over to see Murdoc hovering over the medic’s shoulder as they applied a bandage to his face. The medic looked utterly terrified, even with the dozens of guards around Murdoc. Cassian’s face was wet with tears, and he was holding his father’s hand as tightly as a python held its victims. 

“He was pretty pissed,” Jack agreed, “told me that they took his two favorites and that they wouldn’t live long enough to enjoy it.”

“Oh, _ Macgyver _ !” Murdoc called, his voice too friendly for anyone’s taste. He waved a leather-clad hand, and Macgyver reluctantly climbed to his feet. With Jack on his heels, he moved toward the back of the ambulance, where Cassian was now wrapped in a shock blanket. Before Murdoc said anything, the boy piped up. 

“Where’s your dad, Mr. Macgyver?” He asked and scooched closer to his own father as the medic’s turned toward Macgyver. “The guys said that they wanted your dad.” 

“ _ Oh _ ?” Murdoc’s smiled twisted in a way that Mac knew that he’d be hearing about later. 

“Is this your dad?” He stared at Jack, brightening. 

“Jacks, my partner, not my dad.” 

“You’re dating?” Cassian asked, and the medic grinned before forcing it away. Murdoc looked torn between being delighted and possessively furious. 

“No, no,” Mac didn’t like the hungry glare in Murdoc’s face as he turned to Jack. “Jack is my work partner. We work together on jobs, so he’s my partner. We’re not dating.” 

“But,” Cassian nodded, “but then where’s your dad?” 

“He’s not here.” 

“But you said,” the boy glanced around, “that.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Macgyver tried and wasn’t prepared for the frown on Cassian’s tear-stained face. 

“Dad said you shouldn’t interrupt people when they’re talking,” Cassian pointed at Macgyver’s face, heedless of the noiseless cackle from his father. “I wasn’t done.” 

“Listen, you’re a kid,” Jack said, and Cassian’s hand jerked down in an imperious motion they all recognized. 

“ _ So _ ? That doesn’t mean you get to be  _ rude _ . Dad says that adults need to respect kids as much as kids are supposed to respect adults.” Assured that he now had silence and the shocked attention of the adults on him, he continued. “You  _ said _ that dad was going to come, but you texted my dad. Where is your dad?” Murdoc’s creepy half-smile fell on the blond, and he seriously debated getting up and walking away. 

“Cassian,” Macgyver ushered away from the medic and sat on the back of the ambulance, “ I’m sorry, you’re right about not interrupting, and it looks like your dad found us before mine did.” 

“I don’t understand,” Cassian’s lower lip trembled, and he took a short, watery breath before bursting into tears again. It was shock and fear and empathy for a near stranger that resulted in the noisy, terrified sobs. Murdoc bundled his son against his side again, and with his free hand, signed a few threats that had every member of Phoenix backing away a few feet. 

Giving the small family their relative privacy, the team re-assembled near the SUV. 

“What what did the little raven mean when he said they wanted your dad?” Jack asked. 

“They wanted my dad to do something for them, and they thought that they could lure him into a trap. I could have gotten out of there, but I saw Cassian and,” he shrugged. “It seemed like a better choice to let Murdoc come get him because if he’s already tracking Cassian down, then he’d get here faster.” 

“You didn’t text your dad?” Jack asked, and Macgyver looked down and away. “Mac?” 

“I knew which one would get here faster,” Mac admitted. Murdoc was insane, creepy, and a murderous lunatic, but he was an insane, creepy, and murderous lunatic who loved his son. 

“It’s weird that Murdoc is a better option here,” Riley muttered, “seriously messed up. “

“I know,” Macgyver sighed, “It’s messed up. I don’t even know where my dad is.” 

“I don’t care where he is,” Desi muttered, “but how did you have Murdoc’s number?” 

“He gave it to me last time we saved Cassian, and I figured that it would be nice to have a psychopath owe me a favor.” It was almost funny, and judging by the intense frown directed his way, he could guess that no one else agreed. “Look, now we have Murdoc and Cassian, and I’m alive, and there’s a new group that didn’t even get a chance to grow.” 

“Man, that’s messed up.” Jack sighed, and all eyes were on Murdoc as he stood with Cassian in his arms, and he walked toward the car the other agents were ushering towards. 

It was irrational and insane to be jealous of Cassian. To be jealous of a child whose father spent time in prison, and yet he knew that Murdoc had never used his job as an excuse to abandon the child. He never even gave excuses for his absences, and he wouldn’t try to blame Cassian for his mistakes. 

“Right,” he rubbed the back of his head. “Right, let’s go.” 

  
  


$#$#$# 

“Orange isn’t a good look for anyone,” Murdoc mused, eyeing Macgyver as the blond stepped into the interrogation room. “But I think I deserve some nice black leather.” 

“What do you want, Murdoc?” Macgyver asked, “you asked me to come here.” 

“In exchange for information,” the sniper mused, and his smile widened. “Yes, yes, Cassian likes you. You’ll be happy to know.” 

“That’s...good,” Macgyver stared, wondering what was taking Murdoc so much time to say. Usually, he would blurt out anything and everything. “He’s doing alright?”

“The doctors are very reassuring,” Murdoc said, sanity flickering over his face for a moment before vanishing. “You know, Macgyver, it was a  _ delicious _ sight to see you like that?”

He was going to regret asking, but Macgyver shrugged, “like how?” 

“All...imprisoned, and you were so good with Cassian. So... _ tender _ and gentle. So patient, and I knew you were smart, but I didn’t realize you were so good with children too. It’s an... _ attractive _ quality.” 

“You still dream of maiming me,” Macgyver pointed out, feeling cold and a little nervous despite himself. 

“True, true, but there’s something so….so  _ you _ when you were holding Cassian. I wasn’t sure what to feel when he told me that you knew two things….that the sun was a rise in the morning and that I’d always come for him.” 

Mac swallowed before nodding slightly. 

“I said that, so?” 

“So?” Murdoc leaned across the table. “So? You told my boy I’d come for him. You  _ assured _ him, even though you and I know you could have escaped that cell ten minutes after they brought you in, and you  _ stayed  _ in that little cell.” 

“I wasn’t too keen on getting shot because you thought I was kidnapping him.” 

“Right, right,” the man mused, “true, but it must have brought up all of those painful issues with your own daddy.” 

“Murdoc,” Mac glared, refusing to acknowledge the shiver that worked its way up to his spine as the man grinned. “What do you want?” 

“Well, to escape and take you back to my place.” 

“For torture and then death? No thanks.” 

“Maybe...maybe not, I could have other plans. I’m not sure I like being ‘Dumpster Fire’ on your phone. Can’t you give me something cute?” 

“What to be in my phone as Cupcake?”

“Ew?” Murdoc sighed, still smiling. “No, that was my ex’s name for me. It should really be something that’s... _ us. _ ” 

“Murdoc.”

“I love how you texted me and didn’t bother getting in contact with your father. You know, professional opinion her, you shouldn’t just let him  _ waltz  _ back into your life. He’s what the courts call a repeat offender. I mean, look at me. I kill people, and Mac Daddy abuses your trust and hurts your heart. I’m just saying.” 

“ _ MURDOC _ !” He snarled, “what?”

“Touchy, touchy,” Murdoc sighed, “I’ve said what I wanted to say that dying or not, your father isn’t worth the effort.” 

“What do you know what he’s worth?” Macgyver snapped, and Murdoc leaned across the table with a cold smile and bright eyes. 

“Mac...you texted  _ me _ . You signalled off the flare to  _ me _ , not your precious papa bear. You called in a killer who tortured you and your friends instead of texting him, and that goes a long way to show me what you  _ really _ think of him. You don’t even have to say anything. Now that I’ve said my piece, the information you want is in a rented locker in San Fransisco; give me something to write the address down onto.” 

“Are you serious,” Macgyver demanded, “you called me all the way up here too.” 

“Ah, ah, Macky, just give me something to write with.” Murdoc’s smile somehow became  _ creepier _ , “let’s  _ goooo _ . You have bad guys to catch!” 

As he was preparing to leave, Murdoc called after him, “Do you mind visiting Cassian? He’s been asking for you.” 

“You want me to visit your son?” Mac paused at the door, “are you insane?” 

“Well...yes, I am, but Cassian needs a more stable adult presence in his life, and you’re already someone he trusts.” Murdoc shrugged. 

“I’ll think about it,” He said, already wondering if Cassian had any interest in kites being used to their full potential. 


End file.
